This week I realized an aim I’ve had for several years – to have a wood stove which cooks and heats. When we first bought the house it had one of the old, traditional brick and ceramic sit-on stoves, a giant contraption. Unfortunately, I tore it down and replaced it with a modern fireplace which heats part of the house via tubes.

We also have a ceramic and brick heating stove in another part of the house and a propane cooker in the kitchen. What i really wanted was something that both heated and cooked and kept its heat. This new stove is extremely, back-breakingly heavy as it’s made of cast iron, ceramic tiles and the interior is clay. We also had to have a new chimney made to use it due to new regulations. Hopefully, it doe sthe job as room temperature in my house at the moment is a balmy 6 degrees Centigrade and winter hasn’t even really started.

Cousin of the Pine Marten, Beech or Stone Martens are the bane of village life out here in the Carpathian Mountains of Eastern Slovakia. They plague attics and cause a lot of damage. My garden is littered with large chunks of roof insulation and their scat is everywhere. Also, they run around all night which echoes across the ceiling. They’re also extremely aggressive and will hiss and scream. The sound of them catching their prey, and its screams, a few feet above your head at 3 in the morning is a shock.
After months of problems capturing the marten on the trail cam as it was aware of the infrared, it seems to have become adjusted to it and I finally managed to get some good footage. It’s winter so the marten is redecorating my attic to make a nest. And shitting all over the place. Very thoughtful of it…

This is the first time I’ve posted someone else’s picture on carpathianadventure.com but I felt it had to be done. This picture, created by Aik Art of DeviantArt, is one of the most powerful and self-encompassing images I’ve come across. It truly shows the essence of Zen. I find myself just staring at it for long periods, much as the monk does to the wall….